Pages

Sunday, November 30, 2014

y = f(x) is a common rationalization in mathematical problems to constitute for a reason to differentiate when an equation is defined explicitly, allowing it to be a function. When it's defined implicitly, things get a little bit more wacky but still solvable. It goes back to what I was saying about Troodons, we can't properly simulate anything about them except theorize on what they were and magnificent is that.

Ah Man of Steel, how great you were. It's just unfortunate the reaction was just as polarizing. If they went ahead and made a direct sequel, I'm sure that the reaction would have been more positive (as in a higher majority of positives than negatives), but they decided to go ahead with Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Have no doubt for an equally polarizing reaction.

It didn't take me long as a kid to enjoy Christmas movies, but then I found a common theme in them. Tim Allen was in every freaking one, or at least it seemed that way. I could never find a Superman toy on Christmas or otherwise, I had to settle for a Burger King surprise one. Luckily I had Bionicles... Lego was boss. Here's a Christmas post to say goodbye to November, fuck you November!

Saturday, November 29, 2014

So, while Destiny remains my main gameplay test feature, I have plenty more episodes of that coming out soon, I will tell you all that I do have some other gameplay tests coming out. The first one that you will probably see is inFamous: Second Son. Now I know what you all are saying, that game came out so long ago! Why now? Well, because I only got a PS4 back in September and it's November and I only had Destiny up until then. I'll also post a review, I'm thinking of also doing a video review of Destiny, it might be interesting. After that, although the order might not be exact, I'll be doing gameplay tests of Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor and WWE 2K15.

Friday, November 28, 2014

That was confusing. I mean, I was excited for it, I'm glad there was no Adam Driver, but, I mean, y'know. It was weird, just, weird. Check it out yourself, as for that new lightsaber, there is no way the bad guy isn't going to cut his own hand off. Also, it proves a lot of these rumors are true, like the Stormtrooper crashlands on Tatooine with Luke's hand and goes on an adventure to find him. Only thing is, the Force Awakening sort of negates Darth Vader killing Palpatine, doesn't it? Didn't he bring balance to the Force, which meant that with Luke as the last person who knew how to use it, there was no more need of it? So, is there a Chosen One for each generation? Who knows...

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Did anybody else see the new Jurassic World trailer? I mean Holy Shit that was awesome! The very premise behind the first movie, what if you try and bring back something that had a chance, lives in this movie's DNA. Same with the second film's central idea, what if they didn't learn their lesson. The third film was going to have an idea like that too, what if the dinosaurs made their way off the island. That would have related too closely to Life Finds a Way and they said fuck it... but holy shit, Colin Trevorrow, whatever apprehensions I had with you are gone.

It sure does...

I mean, it resonates so well with Life Finds a Way because, what if this D-Rex wasn't mean to live? It's not life, it's a hybrid, made from the DNA of several for entertainment and profit. inGen really didn't give a warning label to the people who bought Isla Nublar. What I'm calling, this movie will have some twists.

It'll be sad when they remake Jurassic Park...

The tamed velociraptors will start to regress. The D-Rex escapes and starts some havoc, but nothing serious. They don't listen to Pratt when he tells them to evacuate because the D-Rex isn't programmed to eat humans. Yeah, well life wants to find a way and it can't decide which DNA to listen to. It frees the motherfucking Tyrannosaurus Rex. Eventually they re-establish communication with Costa Rica, but they need to diver the attention of the Tyrannosaurus and Pratt sacrifices himself. Literally, I will give Trevorrow props if Pratt dies.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

I don't know why I'm making this post. I have no reason to make this post, literally no reason at all... but I need something to do so I feel that making this post will make up for it... I don't know. Feels weird, I was looking at my tablet for ten minutes in the morning wondering what to do. There is nothing right now for me to do. I guess...

Monday, November 10, 2014

Troodons were special in that much like other dinosaurs they probably had feathers, probably the smartest out of all the dinosaurs, aside from some unsaid others, scientists claim it could be as smart as modern birds. How do we judge that, however? We have it's bones but not it's marrow, we have drawings of skin and feathers but no samples. No, I believe it may have been much, much smarter.

Timur made his capital in Samarkand. What does this post have to do with Man of Steel? Well, this time around, in my several posts lately focusing on the film, I am going to analyze the character of General Zod. What is Zod, he is a man, bound by his own programming and fueled by an insatiable desire to do what is best for his people. He wants to make sure that he is able to continue the race of his people, the Kryptonians. Searching in space the outposts of Krypton for thirty years, most people would relent and he wants to as well... but he can't. It is impossible for him to relent because it is written in his blood that he is to protect and give the Kryptonian people hope. He has his own feelings and emotions and intentions, but he takes the values of what Krypton holds dear and uses them as loopholes. He is the protector of Krypton, he will not tolerate any insurgencies and the insurgency that is started by him in the beginning of the film is not a revolt, in fact it is his method of suppressing the revolt he believes the council to have started. Much like Timur had his lame leg, Zod has his DNA. Earth is Zod's Samarkand, the capital he claims but unlike Timur, Zod can never truly take Earth, but he will die trying.

Why am I analyzing this character? Well, keeping up with my recent string of posts focusing on Man of Steel, I felt that before Remembrance Day, it might be good to analyze a character from the film. The only military character given enough depth to do so is General Zod. He is a patriot, but not by choice. He is a patriot because he was programmed to be one. His inferiors respect and obey him. They were programmed to do so, but their fear of him is genuine. He gives Kal-El, a person who's very existence to Zod screams blasphemy, a chance to do his people right and bring back Krypton. When Superman refuses, Zod does what he wants and tries to take what he believes is his by force. Then when all of the Kryptonians are sucked into the Phantom Zone, Superman and General Zod are the only two Kryptonians left alive. With all chances of saving Krypton now gone, Zod has failed his programming, he has literally failed his own blood. For the first time in his life is he given the chance of choice... but he doesn't want it and he is consumed by rage and thinks of the today, not the tomorrow. It is that thought that brings his downfall. This is my design.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Another thing about Troodons is that their eyes were actually not on the sides, they were coming more inwards. So the idea is that had evolution been allowed to take it's course, the troodons with greater depth perception would survive. These troodons of course would eventually have eyes that look like ours, so, isn't it fantastic how different history could have become? Of course, say we all went extinct, there would be hardly any of our remains (as is with dinosaurs) left. So for all we know, the deinonychus' were intelligent and working on nanotechnology when the asteroid hit the Yucatan.

You see, I've explained quite a few, no several, times that Man of Steel, is a great movie. Last time I sort of surmised why it's greatness would make the sequel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, a great movie. However, considering that whole post was an excuse to talk about the new Star Wars flick and how it would take over the market soon, I feel I should give you guys why exactly I think that Man of Steel is great. It is a polarizing film, if you look at the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the amount of negative reviews are literally almost as many positives, so when you try to even that out you get over fifty percent. That falls into the rotten category in Rotten Tomatoes, but that system is skewed, basing a movie being rotten on percent instead of actually looking at the fraction. When you look at user reviews, they usually total up in the 7/10 area. In comparison, Spider-Man usually gets 6/10 and Tim Burton's Batman gets 8/10. So given the fact that those two movies are great and for the most part tend to hold up, most people enjoy Man of Steel. So with it established that Man of Steel is an enjoyable film, let me explain why it is a great film. I'm putting this into one sentence here: if you did not like Man of Steel, the Superman movie for you was already made and it was called Superman Returns, go watch that instead.

Impressionism: I'm going to use my original review of the film several times here. One of the first comments I made was that the movie is not intentionally dark or realistic like The Dark Knight was. It is dark in the sense that the original Crash Bandicoot is dark and realistic in the sense that Tim Burton's Batman was realistic (as in fathomable, but still out there). I used the words "impressionable method", then and let me clarify on that now. What I mean by impressionable method is that it reminds me of impressionism. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is the movement that went around in the painterly world regarding the shift in light and colour and how they are used. Sunset and silhouettes and dark corridors that are at times unnerving make up a lot of Crash Bandicoot and while clearly a kids game, the fact that it evokes such an impressionistic feeling makes it seem like so much more. As such, Man of Steel uses lighting in a different way than most films do. It may remind one of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, and that's fair, given that Superman and Batman are the same story in different ways, but Snyder manages to capture the feeling perfectly. He uses the score (more later) to truly bring it out. If you notice, Krypton is all colourful and unique as an alien world, but there is a sense of glumness and decaying Victorianism about it. When we shift to Earth (horrible transitions, I'll admit), the tone only sinks in deeper, the lighting gets more blue and morbid and at times, Henry Cavill's skin seems pale.... but as we move on, slowly by slowly everything gets brighter. By the end of the movie, we have maintained that dimmer approach, but through it can show a brighter world. The impression makes the theme, and the theme is hope.

Music: The impressionism is matched by the music. Krypton's scores tend to have a sense of rushed energy about them and by the end, they all resign in defeat. Scores that go out against Zod or early in the move are dank, but still filled with the hope that things could get better, but they match the impression left by the lighting. As the battle with Zod gets more and more intense, the music gets deadly and when Superman kills him, Snyder makes the snap as such that it's all you can hear and think about. Done with magnificence, the thud when Zod hits the ground, the emotion on Cavill's face and the fact is that it was symbolic matches the audio. When all is said and done, the inspiring music finally comes full circle and rises above the dimness.

Symbolism: The movie, as I pointed out in my original review, has a GATTACA-esque approach to Krypton. Zod and everyone on Krypton but Kal-El are the products of genetic engineering and Zod respects this, he worships it. The removal of choice means the removal rebellion and even his own revolt, was done in the name of his engineering against those whose engineering didn't agree. The point is that Krypton robbed itself of it's own opportunity to have a choice. Zod didn't have a choice when it came to killing the humans, to save Krypton, he was programmed to take them out. Superman had a choice and when he snaps Zod's neck to save the family (who symbolized humanity in general), it showed that he rejected the idea of removing choice for happiness. It meant that he would be willing to give up Krypton, in order to make sure that humans get to choose their own destiny, not some alien invader. The symbolism is so subtle, so in the background that it's sometimes hard to notice and we need to think about it.

I'd go on about the actors, but I think you guys get the point of the post. So here's my makeup for yesterday's post, good morning guys. Oh, and for my Canadian readers, no post on Remembrance Day.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Troodons are pretty cool dinosaurs. I mean, just hearing that they have certain opposable fingers and other early human characteristics means this tiny velociraptor could have actually used blunt tools to a degree, I mean damn! What exactly do they remind me of, though? J.J. Abrams' Super 8, now just wait, you may be thinking, what kind of an allegory is this? Make more YouTube videos you loser. I have, I'm just too lazy to drag and drop them into the upload bin. How are they alike, it's the nostalgia quality. Troodons represent the land of the lost, something from the sixties that exists in another dimension that we want to reach out to but just can't. Super 8 represents are way of coping with that.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is the now official and confirmed title. It's going to be strange, you know. Watch them in order, starting with Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and slowly by slowly you'll see an increase in quality, maxing at Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Then, however, when you finally watch Star Wars you'll be confounded at the drop in quality, you'll hit The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and see a slow rise in effects and then all of a sudden, with J.J. Abrams new installment, the quality will be leaps and bounds ahead of anything we've seen. Perhaps it's fitting, though, as The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies comes out and finally wraps up our time spent in Middle-Earth, we can harken back once more to the rebirth of a galaxy far far away, a long time ago. Let's talk Hobbit, that trailer was amazing and I have high hopes that the trilogy will conclude in a way that once we can finally watch all twenty-four hours of the Middle-Earth franchise in order, we'll love it. Short reprieve - done. Whenever the new Star Wars trailer comes out, my only hope is this, Adam Driver is not a human because I don't want to look at that Justin Longish face. If he is a human, I hope he dies a death befitting Jar Jar Binks. Anyways, I personally do like the rumor that like a month or even two weeks after cremating Darth Vader, Luke disappeared and because Boyega finds his hand, Sydow sics the Inquisitor Order (made by Vader) after them. It seems cool, but we don't know enough about the film yet. No matter what, I'm calling one thing, the superhero genre is about to implode and Star Wars with it's Josh Trank and Gareth Edwards (Rancor in Hawaii) spinoffs will thrive. What do I mean by implode? By 2022, Marvel and WB will have a huge amount of successful projects but by then, they'll see that no matter the critical success, unless it's a big film like Superman or Captain America, Batman or Iron Man, Justice League of Avengers, it won't make as much money. Shazam will do good because of the presence of Dwayne Johnson and overall separation from the mainstream genre... but Captain Marvel, Aquaman, Cyborg and Inhumans (which I feel, unfortunately, many will see as an Avengers-filler movie) will all do RoboCop business at the box office, enough to make a profit, but not enough for a sequel. So in the 2020s, the Star Wars franchise will be dominant and the superhero genre will be more quiet for at least three years and at most, the time between Superman IV: Quest for Peace and Tim Burton's Batman. How does this lead into my topic? Like this:

Man of Steel: As I have said and maintained over this blog, Man of Steel was an amazing movie, sure some dull parts, but what do you expect. For the first time we got a Superman movie with stunning visual effects, amazing fight scenes and such an advance in technology that CGI literally evolved. Once again, we got a heartfelt story whose realism was defined by the thematic morals of hope and an uplifting score by Hans Zimmer which allowed us to fully be immersed in what being a superhero means. Go on Rotten Tomatoes, 76 % of the audience liked it, 159 fresh reviews as opposed to 129 rotten ones. Critically, it's in the positive side (but, as history and psychology prove, negative sides tend to be smaller but louder). Now go on IMDb, 7.3/10, people loved it. With such a good critical, and don't forget financial, background, how will the sequel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, not do good?

What Comes After: Last paragraph I described what came before, now what comes after and I tie back to the big long paragraph before that. People don't know that they will pretty soon experience Chemistry 12 in cinema by way of oversaturation. They are excited at a Wonder Woman movie and want to know how this movie will link into it. They are going to watch this movie, even casual cinemagoers will watch more than once to see how it connects to future installments (I won't, I'll only watch it once in theaters, once on DVD and then wait for a long time). With such a strong foundation built around it, people will love it. What they won't love is how many films DC is going to expect them to watch afterwards, especially since Vertigo will have it's own upcoming film slate. Add in the fact that Image probably wants movies too, I hate to say this, but the ball is in Marvel's court. They have proved trustworthy and while DC's big films like Justice League may outgross The Avengers: Infinity War and even though Wonder Woman will annihilate Captain Marvel, Cyborg will not hold form against Black Panther. People will be picking and chosing. It's unfortunate and that is where Star Wars comes into play, because it's similar, but different enough it'll provide a reprieve for the audience. DC for big meaningful movies, Marvel for long stretched entertainment fables.

The Cast: Henry Cavill is amazing as Superman and only gets better with each scene. Amy Adams was a bit dry as Lois Lane, but she's not a horrible actor. Laurence Fishburne, Scoot Mcsomething and Tao Okamato, that is the caliber of talent associated with this film. We have Gal Gadot, a good actress who'll be able to show her daughter as the first on screen superheroine (Batman is a superhero, but Black Widow and Hawkeye sure as hell ain't). Then Ben Affleck, who directed Argo, a movie that won an Academy Award and wrote some movie that I don't care for and won an Academy Award. Jesse Eisenberg is the only wildcard and I'm calling it right now, he'll prove me wrong and may as well make the movie.

The Script: David Goyer is that guy whose ideas you want to steal, but not help materialize. If he materializes his own ideas, they'll probably suck, I mean there's the off chance that it'll end up really good, but probably won't. That's why they have Chris Terrio, you know, an Academy Award winning screenwriter, who'll probably be able to make the script very smart with lots of symbolism and continually evolving the theme of Man of Steel.

So there you have it, an excuse of a post focusing on Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, when I actually wanted to talk about Star Wars.